One photographer. One image. The story behind the shot.
This image might not seem like an interesting or outstanding, award winning landscape image, but the story behind it is a beauty.
Back in 2022 I was rushed to hospital. Long story short, I had sepsis, and not Covid as everyone said I had. But when your skin starts to go blue with the infection, then it’s time to do something. The medical center was cleared of all staff before I arrived, just in case, and with a temperature of 42°C I was rushed to hospital that Saturday afternoon. The doctors said that if I had left it until Monday, there was a good chance I would not be sitting here writing this story.
I stayed in hospital for over a month and was released on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, our national holiday. A couple of days later I was back in hospital with more problems. I could not walk straight or stand for too long, as I kept falling over. They said it was a type of vertigo, but after a couple more days at home I was back in hospital yet again with very bad pains in my head. The doctors said they could find nothing wrong on the brain scans, sent me home for the third time and told me not to go back to work for a month.
What was I going to do, stuck at home for a month? All my cameras were here at my house, but all my film stock was in a big fridge at work, safe and sound. I went online and ordered a few rolls, just in case I was able to go for a walk in the nearby woods. Then I remembered I still had my Fuji X-T20 and a lens adapter, so I could fit my vintage Olympus Zuiko lenses to the digital camera. I had sold all my Canon digital gear when I went back to black and white film photography.
During my recovery the weather was great. It was the end of March and early April, and I was able to sit outside on a bench in my front garden. The creative side of me was going mad, so I came up with an idea. What could I photograph from this bench with the digital camera and the Zuiko glass? I limited myself to just three prime lenses, the 24mm, 50mm and 135mm, which are 38mm, 80mm and 216mm on the crop sensor. So we had a plan, and I had all the time in the world. The project even got a name, “From the Front Garden Bench,” and I made a 12 page photo zine with the images.
That’s the back story behind the image here. It was taken with the 135mm Zuiko lens, of a bird in the tree at my next door neighbor’s house. I waited and waited for the right moment, for the bird to turn its head and look in the right direction. Oh yeah, I forgot to say, the images are straight out of the camera. I set the Fuji to black and white mode, a square crop and JPEG output. We had clear blue skies and a clear canopy to play with, and I was having a great time with these so called limitations I had imposed on myself. When I was able to go for short walks again after a couple of weeks of rest, I still continued with the project.
Something changed inside me. I no longer go out taking wide vista landscape images. Now my photography is about the ordinary things all around me, with projects in mind. I have a few projects on the go at the moment, Abandoned Cottages, The River Boyne and Tree Canopy. This image, along with a couple more from the front garden bench, opened my eyes to the story of trees. Most people photograph trees when they have leaves on them, and even better in autumn, when those leaves start to change color. Me, no, I photograph them when there are no leaves. What interests me is the shape and structure of the branches and the canopy above.
So, in short, this image doesn’t look like much, but it has a powerful personal story behind it. I will leave you with this wonderful quote from Elliott Erwitt.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
You can follow Neil’s work on foto @mononeil, on Instagram @mononeil or at blackandwhite.ie